How To Make Homemade Cinnamon & Sugar Soft Pretzels

Homemade soft pretzels are such a delicious and easy treat to make at home. As the weather turns colder do you find yourself craving all those wonderful comfort foods like pot pie, hot chocolate, apple pie and warm soft pretzels? At our house we are in full comfort food mode. The crock pot is churning out meals while tag teaming with the oven! 

Our latest comfort food recipe is homemade soft pretzels. At first this seemed so intimidating since pretzel making is a three step process, but once I made my first batch I realized there is nothing to be intimated about homemade pretzel making! They are quite simple and easy to make at home thank goodness, otherwise I was considering buying stock in Auntie Anne's due to our frequent stops there for warm soft pretzels. 

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If you have never made anything with dough before, making soft pretzels is a great one to start with. As I mentioned before making soft pretzels is a three step process broken down as follows:

• Make the dough and let it rise, 

• Shape the dough and give it a quick water/baking soda bath

• Bake the pretzels

Let's make a batch together shall we? Here is the recipe I used to make mine that I think you will love:

Easy Homemade Cinnamon & Sugar Soft Pretzels

Ingredients

• 1 cup warm water

• 1 pkg dry active yeast

• 1 Tbsp sugar

• 1 Tbsp melted butter

• 1/2 tsp salt

• 2 1/2 cups all purpose flour

• 1/2 tsp cinnamon

• 2 Tbsp vegetable oil

• 1 egg white

Baking Soda Bath

• 6 cups water

• 1/4 cup baking soda

Cinnamon & Sugar Topping

• 1/4 cup melted butter

• 1/4 cup sugar + 1/4 tsp cinnamon mixed together

Step #1 Make the Dough

In a metal mixing bowl pour in the warm (see Tip below) water, yeast and the tablespoon of sugar. Let the yeast activate or proof (technical term) for 10 minutes. The yeast will feed off of the sugar and begin to foam and get frothy. 


Tip: If it bubbles up and gets frothy you know your yeast is active and well. Causes of "dead" yeast can be too hot water, too cold water, old yeast or too much sugar. The water should feel warm to the touch on the inside of your wrist - not hot. 


After the yeast is proofed add the melted butter, salt, flour and cinnamon and mix for about 10 minutes. I find it easiest to mix everything in my Kitchen Aid mixer starting with the mixing paddle then switching to the dough hook once the ingredients come together. Using the dough hook is how you are going to kneed the dough. 

If you don't have a stand mixer you can do all of the mixing by hand using a solid wooden spoon and then once the ingredients come together dump it out onto a lightly floured surface and kneed it by hand. (if you need a quick lesson in how to kneed dough here is a great video). The dough should not stick to the bowl at all and feel smooth and elastic. 


The dough needs to rest and have time to double in size. We don't want the dough to stick to the bowl so you should pull the dough out of the metal mixing bowl, pour in the vegetable oil and spread it around the inside of the bowl with a kitchen brush and then place the dough back in the bowl. 

Completely cover the top of the bowl with a piece of saran wrap or a towel. It is best to put the bowl in a warm location to help the dough rise. The dough should be doubled in size after 60 minutes.


Tip: Since it is super cold where I live I like to turn my oven on low for about 15 minutes then turn it off and set the bowl with the dough on it to rise.  

Once the dough is double it's size pour it out onto a lightly floured surface and divide it into 8 to 10 equal size pieces. If you want huge pretzels go with 8 pieces otherwise for medium size pretzels divide the dough into 10 pieces. 


Step #2 Baking Soda Bath

Pour the six cups of water into a large pot, mix in the baking soda and turn the stove top on medium high temperature. You want the water to come to a full boil. 


While you are waiting for the water to reach the boiling point you can use this time to shape your 8 or 10 pieces of dough into pretzel shapes. 

• Shape your dough by rolling each piece into a long rope about 24 inches long. 

• On your work surface lay the dough rope into a "U" shape.

• cross the ends of the U two times to make the center twist

• fold the top of each U shape down towards the bottom of the U and pinch the ends down. 

The dough should now resemble the shape of a pretzel. You can easily adjust to dough into the proper shape of your liking. 


Tip - If you don't want to make the traditional pretzel shape you can cut the long rolled rope of dough into small 1" pieces to make pretzel nuggets instead. 


Once the baking soda water bath is boiling carefully drop one pretzel at a time into the water. You do not want to crowd the pot so you may only be able to bathe one pretzel at a time. Remove the pretzels from the water after 30 seconds and place them on a parchment lined baking sheet. 


Mix the egg white with 1-2 tablespoons of water and brush each pretzel top with this mixture. Since we are making Cinnamon pretzels I don't recommend sprinkling salt on the unbaked pretzels. 


Tip - if you want to make traditional pretzels, skip adding cinnamon to the dough in the first step. After the pretzels are brushed with the egg wash sprinkle salt on each pretzel to your liking. 


Step # - Bake The Pretzels & Add Toppings
Bake the pretzels in a 425F oven for 10-12 minutes. Allow the pretzels to cool on a wire rack for 5 minutes before serving. Melt the 1/4 cup of butter in a small dish. Brush the baked pretzels with melted butter then sprinkle the sugar & cinnamon mixture over the pretzels. 

Enjoy!

Tip - if you aren't going to eat the pretzels right away (or within an hour after baking) I recommend flash freezing the pretzels then storing them in a Ziploc freezer bag to keep them fresh. When you are ready to eat place the pretzels on parchment paper on a baking sheet and put them in a 425F oven for 10-12 minutes until thawed and warm.

Wasn't that easy? There are so many different toppings you could put on your homemade soft pretzels like - poppy seeds, drizzled chocolate with chopped nuts and Parmesan cheese.

What's your favorite pretzel toppings? Share your favorites in the comments or follow me so you don't miss out on future recipes, crafts and useful parenting tips.

While you're in the kitchen in full comfort food snack mode why not whip up a batch of this amazing carmel corn? I have the perfect recipe for you that is fast, easy and YUMMY! 

Get the full recipe HERE